Monday, February 11, 2013

Detail #1: The Window Seat Emergeth!

As you last knew, we were stuck with two end braces for our hacked window seat that were two big for the space intended because measuring things is hard.

Well, good thing we got that straightened out:

Also, I'd like to point out something here:

Kyle kept the braces' locations straight by putting the initial of the child who's room was on the same wall. Presh. Someday, when other people live here and they inevitably tear down half of the things we've done, they're going to find all sorts of things like this, which makes me all squishy and warm inside. Not that they'll tear them down, mind you, but that they'll find traces of us and our family if they do and then maybe the choices we've made won't seem so strange to them.

Of course, not everything was perfect:

But that was to be expected, as the two spaces weren't evenly across from one another, so we'll just cut down a piece of the old baseboard and pop that right in there, no worries. A couple quick countersunk screws in appropriate places mounted the ends to the walls, and it we could finally say we had solid progress.

After that, it was pretty much a cake walk (of careful measurements) to build the platform for the seating area and attach that to the ends, and hot snot we have something legit-ish forming:

Now, now was the moment of truth.

It was time to commit to SparkleMotion and cut the PureBond plywood.

Kyle did most of the cutting while I helped brace the huge piece so we could get straight lines and because I am prone to maiming myself when handling anything above 9V. He liked that it barely splintered along the cut edges and that there was no god-awful stank that exploded from the plywood once you cut it. Apparently that happens. I wouldn't really know since the last time we cut a bunch of plywood it was for Tova's bedroom floor and I was forbidden from having any part of that process because I was hugely pregnant.

So! Kyle likes how this plywood handles itself while being hacked into pieces, and I liked how smooth and even it felt -- barely needs to be sanded, even on the edges. Which is awesome, because I hate sanding.

Anyway, two cuts later we had our seating platform:

Which was pretty awesome, to see this finally becoming real. And yes, since the plans are based off of those for a twin day bed, this thing is quite huge for a window seat, but there's a reason for that. We'll get there.

Now, as you can see there's still some plaster peeking out from underneath there, and I quickly expressed concern about containing that after watching the dust fly while screwing the PureBond down on the frame. This window seat is supposed to have some substantial storage below, but the last thing I want is for the stuff I hide away to be covered in plaster dust. It took about five seconds to figure out how to remedy that:

We just used the cut pieces from the seating platform and trimmed them to fit inside the nooks created by the frame and combo glued & screwed them into place, which actually gave the underneath of the seat a more finished look while supporting the wall and containing broken bits of plaster.

And this way, we didn't waste a square inch of the 4'x8' PureBond sheet. Because resourcefulness is the name of our game, homies.

Anywhoodle, we needed to get back to the Depot to pick up another sheet of PureBond and the wood to make the drawers and of course, it snowed like gangbusters. Luckily, if nothing else, I am an epic player of the "What if we..." game, and on Thursday you'll see the stroke of genius I pulled out of my butt (if by butt I were to mean another room in this house, but you catch my drift) plus probably some pictures of my kids being ridiculously cute because it'll be Valentine's Day and I'm a giver like that.

We are being reimbursed for our use of PureBond products, however all opinions and viewpoints are strictly our own.

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